Monday, May 7, 2012

"Ohio's quest for regional unity"

The Plain Dealer ran an editorial on May Day (May 1) with the innocuous title “Organizing NE Ohio's quest for regional unity: editorial.”

It sounds so mother-and-apple-pie. Who could be opposed to “better coordination” or “reducing the duplication of government services and figuring out how to connect transportation systems with one another”. The editorial reports that The Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium expects to issue its first report in June and then convene community meetings to discuss next steps. A “Sustainable Communities Consortium” likewise sounds appealing.

Now compare this language to the buzz words compiled by Marianne G, co-cordinator for Ohio Tea Party Patriots, at her Mansfield Tea Party website (buzz words such as “sustainability”, “sustainable development,” “smart growth”, “ regionalism”, etc.). Marianne posted an Introduction to Agenda 21, a phrase you may or may not have heard about.

But the Plain Dealer, the Consortium, and an outfit called Greater Ohio are already pushing Agenda 21 under alternative nomenclatures – i.e., those buzz words. In addition to every other pressure we face in this election year, Agenda 21 should be at the top of our list. If we don’t defeat Agenda 21 at the local and state levels, the rest may not matter much. And the first step is for us to understand what Agenda 21 is, and what it looks like when dressed up in (or disguised as!) feel-good “sustainability” language.

Marianne has inaugurated a newsletter to start to educate patriots about Agenda 21, especially as it comes to a neighborhood near you. There have already been hearings or meetings in northeast Ohio, and there are many more on the calendar. Here’s one list of meetings listed on the Consortium’s website